Norton's Winter Wonderland Home Page

You can click on any image for a larger view. On November 8th, we temporarily rolled out our new North Pole Express train to test it. The neighbors from across the street spotted the new train, came flying over with their kids and they all loved it! You can see it below along with the Hammer (our newest attraction for our last year of the analog display - 2004). The train has its own sound system and steam generating unit!

On 11/16, the Merry Go Round was fully assembled and operational! You can check it out in the pictures below. It is great to have it back as part of the display. We finished the toy shop (except for some tinsel) on November 19th. We rolled out and set up the new train permanently on November 23rd. Wow - is it getting attention! The sound systems for the train and Merry-go-round were permanently activated on the 23rd as well. We kept on track for our December 5th opening night.

We have to share this with you! Each night when we turned on the display for a short time (to check out what we completed that day), a neighbor's young son (Jack) - 2 years old - on the street behind us spotted the lights on the top of the tall poles go on. He would yell to his mother, "It's on! Let's go!" They would race around the block to see the display and check out what we did for that day! It was so cute! I figure they will be at the display every day once we start operating it.

Please enjoy reading about our prior displays - and enjoy the videos! We have uploaded most of them to U-Tube for easy viewing.

* 2007 DISPLAY *

2006 Winner - Burbank's Outdoor Decorating Contest

Each season, the City of Burbank has a contest for the best decorations in the city.   We were proud to announce that Norton's Winter Wonderland was chosen as one of the winner's in the 2006 contest.    The presentation of the Award was held at the City Counsel Meeting at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, December 19th and was broadcast on Burbank's Channel 6.

Our neighbor, Keith LaPrath, was also chosen for this distinguished award - and we congratulate him on another year of recognition for his beautiful display. We think that it is great that two of the five winners are within 6 doors of each other on the same street!

What makes our displays so unique is that element of being crafted by their owners!   They are one-of-a-kind - not duplicated anywhere in the city or elsewhere!    We think that creating a unique one-of-a-kind display is far more interesting to visitors than simply buying all sorts of commercial decorations and covering the property!   I can tell you that the amount of work, time and costs that go into creating a unique home-made display is considerable.

For those of you who visit our display in person each year, we wanted to let you know that both Keith LaPrath (Winter Snowland) and our family do not enter the Burbank decorating contest anymore.    This provides the opportunity for other beautifully decorated homes in Burbank to receive recognition for their displays.

Opening Night - December 2, 2006

Above is an picture of our 2006 display.   You can click on the image above to go to the section of this site dedicated to our newest display. What follows below is more information on our new display, but also a LOT of information on our former "analog" display that we ran through 2004.

Our original "North Pole Express" train - always a BIG favorite with the kids and adults - is proudly displayed with other beautiful decorations at 425 North Catalina - one block west of our street, and one block south of us (south of Verdugo Avenue by about 200 feet)!   I hope you will drop by this address and see part of our history - and well as other beautiful decorations they have added!

Wow - were we burning the power with the digital light display!!!!   We consumed over 90 AMPS - the most power we have ever drawn for any of our displays up to that time!   When it is on, I tell the wife and daughter - NO turning on the oven, toaster, microwave, hair dryer - or anything that takes power!

Did you spot the growing use of LED attractions? They are the bright blue lights you see in the picture of our 2006 display above.   LEDs give off a different form of light that makes them very brilliant.   They are also very inexpensive to run (compared to traditional rope light).   Unfortunately, the cost of LED rope light is still many times greater than standard rope light.   To see additional images of our 2006 display, click here.

Channels 2 and 9 featured our 2006 display on their evening news on December 12, 2008.   Click below to watch the telecast on u-tube! Keith LaPrath's display was featured on Channel 9 on December 13th. Congratulations, Keith!

Opening night of 2005's display - 12/03/2005

Our new display was a big hit in 2005!   Look at the crowd checking it out!

See additional images of 2005 attractions here.

*LIVE* STREAMING WEBCAM!!!!

We have taken our display to a new level by enabling viewers to watch it *LIVE* from around the world! Yes - during operating hours, you can view the display *LIVE* via our streaming webcam by clicking on the image below.

The first time you try to view the webcam, you may be asked to download a small Sony viewing file. It is safe to do so, and it only takes a few seconds (unless you are on dial-up..). Once you see the image of the display, you can play around with the settings to enhance your picture quality. The camera can be moved in all directions and zoomed.

If your connection is slow, try reducing the frame rate (you will see that control on the left side of your screen).

Currently, the camera is mounted on the roof facing the sidewalk and the visitors viewing the display. We have a sign posted suggesting to visitors to ring their family on a cell phone and tell them to watch them on the Internet - live - from beautiful downtown Burbank! So, if you spot someone jumping up and down, likely they are trying to get the attention of whoever they called - or else, are just really into the Christmas music! The camera has a built-in microphone - so that our virtual visitors can actually hear people talking on the sidewalk!

NOTE: The camera requires Internet Explorer and Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 2000 operating system. I do not know if it will operate on a Mac.

Click on the camera below for activating the webcam!

Below is a daytime snapshot taken with the webcam to give you an idea of the field of view. Most of the sidewalk in front of the display is in range.

Guest Book

We would really love for you to sign our guest book before you leave. Just click on the image below. You can view the guest book from this link. We really appreciate your comments!

I want to again thank Richard Denny for referring so many visitors (members of the extended Denny family tree) to our website since 2003. We have enjoyed reading their comments - and those of other visitors as well!. For those of you who have not visited Richard's great holiday site, here is the link.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/7853/special/

2004 DISPLAY HIGHLIGHTS

The 2004's FINAL year of our original analog display was a great success! The rain in November delayed our progress at times (but, we needed the water then - as we do in 2009)!

Opening night was Friday evening, December 3rd. The display operated through Christmas Day, and was disassembled on 12/26 in advance of the BIG storm that moved in on 12/27.

We added more characters, lighted objects and fiber-optic items to the display for 2004. As a result, our electric bill was larger in 2004 than in the past. On that subject, a Burbank Realtor, Bob Idavia, made a very generous contribution toward the power bill to help us share this display. Thank you again, Bob.

We have loved putting this display together for over 30 years, and bringing joy to thousands of visitors - as well as the online community who can experience it through pictures and videos.

This display was featured in LA Parent Magazine, in the December 2004 issue. Here is a link to the article:

We also were one of three homes that received the award from the Burbank Civic Pride Committee for best outdoor decorations! We really appreciated their recognition of our labor of love to bring the joy of the season to our community!

We also had a nice write-up in the Daily News that appeared on Christmas Day!

DISPLAY THEMES

In case you did not notice, the display has two themes. The ground level is designed to represent a holiday theme park - and it brings smiles to children and adults alike who imagine they are flying through the air on the swings, riding the horses on the Merry-go-round, or sitting in a train car watching the smoke from the engine and hearing it "chug" down the track. We kept the same theme in our digital light show that we ran from 2005 through 2008. All of the light attractions had computer controlled animation! In 2009, our original 2004 display returns - but with new features, including a brand new Ferris wheel (that is reversible!) and a new more detailed North Pole Express train!

The roof level part of the display remains Christian themed. It is to remind all of us why we celebrate Christmas. It is the time we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ - who gave us all the greatest gift we could ever ever receive - the promise of everlasting life for all who believe in him! Praise the Lord! This part of the display has remained substantially unchanged (except for the digitally sequenced NOEL sign that we enhanced in 2007).

2006 DISPLAY PROGRESS IMAGES

We get a lot of questions about the current display during the holiday period, and where we are in its creation. Annually, I devote a piece of this website to displaying progress images as of a given date. Here are the progress images I posted in November 2006. We went live as planned on Saturday, December 2nd.

11/18/2006

11/21/2006

11/24/2006

11/25/2006

Saturday, November 25, 2006, was exciting for us. The Learning Channel spent the day with us filming part of the setup for their show to be aired in December 2007 on the Learning Channel. The show was called "More Crazy Christmas Lights."

The camera crew came over the night of November 30th and took some film of our display and interviewed my wife and me. They told us that we would have a small part in this year's presentation. However, we watched the show and the producer apparently opted to save us for 2007. The theme for the 2006 show was the Virginia tacky light tour - and we would not fit into that theme being on the west coast!

This special for 2007 features our home and our neighbor's - and our ongoing competition for the best display in Burbank. Actually - Keith and I were talking the other night. Our displays are really so dissimilar that it is impossible to make a comparison. Both are beautiful and draw the crowds.

2003 DISPLAY HIGHLIGHTS

DISPLAY FEATURED IN HOLIDAY LIGHTS MAGAZINE

Folks often ask us about the history of the display, so we make an effort to include that information on this website. Our display for 2003 was particularly memorable as it is the year we were filmed and featured on the Home and Gardens TV channel.   I discuss more about that later. Remember that through 2004, our display was what I would term an "analog" display.   In layman's terms, it was made of a lot of wood and motors and thousands of lights.   Beginning in 2005, we began the transition to a digital display that is controlled by sophisticated digital technology and a powerful computer. In 2009, we return to the analog display - but with the additional of digital lighting technology!

We began assembly of our 2003 Burbank Christmas display on November 1st. It began its daily operation on 12/5/2003, and the last night of operation was on 12/26/2003.

For 2003, we added our first new large attraction in a number of years - the double hammer. We also added the Nemo fish tank (that turned out to be a real favorite of the kids!).

We were are very honored to have our family's Christmas display - with its thousands of lights and extensive animation - featured in the 2003 magazine edition of Holiday Lights. Click on the first image below for more information about the great book that is available for sale by the publisher.   The other two images are the actual article about our Burbank Christmas display.



HOME AND GARDENS TV SPECIAL FOR 2003!

We were very excited when Home and Garden's Television contacted us in 2003 to do a special on our holiday display for their television special "Extreme Christmas - Bigger and Brighter" that aired on the dates below:

This program was re-played on Friday, November 26th, 2004 - and was rerun again on Christmas Day, 2004 at 2 PM. In fact, HGTV ran the show for 2005 through 2008 during the holiday seasons.

For this special, HGTV featured eight (8) homes in the United States for this special program. Here is a link to their website announcement of this special program and great write-ups on our Christmas display in beautiful downtown Burbank and the other seven homes featured in their program.   To watch the video, click on the AIR TIMES image above.

This was the schedule for the special presentation in 2004. It was shown on Christmas Day at 2 PM.

NEW FOR 2003!!!!

For 2003, we introduced our newest MAJOR animated attraction in several years - our animated 8' tall double-hammer ride! This attraction had one of the most complex gear drive systems of all of our animations, not to mention the specialized electronics designed to operate the independent lights on each of the long rotating arms that support the cages for the riders. The new double-hammer attraction was a huge hit with the visitors in 2003!   You can view it (along with the other new 2003 attractions) on the Photos web page. I gave this attraction to our oldest son, David and his wife, Lisa, who proudly featured it in their display.   We gave him most of our digital display attractions in 2009, and now, the double-hammer has returned home and will be featured in our 2009 display!

We also featured for the first time Nemo's Fish tank.   David and Lisa came up with the concept. David focused on its construction and animation while Lisa used her artistic skills in painting the colorful fish. The tank had a black light that really brought the animated fish to life! A rotating mirror ball made the water appear to be moving with air bubbles.

2003 also featured the introduction of our own designed and built electronic sequencing unit that controls the large NOEL sign on the roof to this day. Finally, we added some new characters, two 4-channel digital light controllers, more lights and other enhancements to the already large animated Christmas display!

2002 DISPLAY HIGHLIGHTS

2002 was a great year for our display - the largest one we had ever assembled to that point in time. We enjoyed sharing our animated 2002 Norton's Winter Wonderland Christmas Display with the thousands of visitors, with the television viewing audience (we had great media coverage in 2002) and with the virtual community.

In 2002, we also had a great write-up in the Daily News. Click on the newspaper below to read the article about our Christmas display (and the great 2002 display of our former neighbor, Keith LaPrath).

We also had extensive television coverage. If you missed the CBS-2, NBC-4, KCAL-9 news or the CBS Early Show coverage, you are in luck! We have captured their live television broadcasts!



2002 ADDITIONS TO THE DISPLAY

During the holiday season, visitors always ask us what we have added new for that year. In 2002, we created a special web page to provide this information for that season.

If you click on "Recent Additions to the Display" you will see what we added for 2002. One of our major additions for 2002 was all of our new train track. We also added a new operating train crossing gate, more lights, some new characters and other small decorations.

MORE HISTORY OF THE DISPLAY

For over 38 years, our entire family has been creating elaborate animated home-made Christmas displays.   We built our first Christmas display in 1970 at our other home in Burbank. This display featured a small number of lawn decorations and lights. With each new season, we added more lights and decorations.
As the family grew, so did the display! Our children, their wives and grandchildren contribute their time and labor to help my wife and I with this annual project. As our Christmas display has grown, so has the demand for electricity increased as well. Starting with the 2003 Christmas display, with the new major attractions of the double-hammer and Nemo's fish tank, we increased the power to eight 20-amp circuits! Yikes! The 2004 display used even more electricity!   2009 - with the combination of the analog AND digital technology, may break the record for power consumption!
As you can see from the pictures on the pages of this web site, our Christmas displays take up our entire front yard and almost all of our roof! We have just about reached the point where we have no more room - or power capacity - to add anything else!
We are frequently asked just how long it took us to put this massive holiday display together. In 2002, we began assembling the display on November 1st and finished on December 4th.   We began assembling our 2003 Christmas display also on November 1st.   We completed it on December 5th - just in time for filming by HGTV. For 2004, we began the display's assembly on November 1st as well, and finished on December 3rd.

Our new 2009 display will take about 5 weeks to assemble (we began 11/1 and will go live on 12/5). Of course, we actually started weeks before that in the back yard and garage building the new Ferris wheel and train!

As you can imagine, the time - and expense - required to create and operate this display is phenomenal. Why do we do it year after year? The answer is really pretty simple. The joy we see in the faces of the thousands of visitors who crowd our block to view and enjoy it makes the hundreds of hours of our time and the cost worthwhile!

PICTURES OF THE DISPLAY IN PAST YEARS

Below are pictures of our Christmas displays for 2002, 2001 and 2000. We think you will agree with our characterization of the Christmas display as "elaborate."

* 2002 DISPLAY *

* 2001 DISPLAY *

* 2000 DISPLAY *

And this is when our display started in 1970!

Our son, David, beside the tumbleweed snowman

Dick beside the Santa-in-the-box and wooden Christmas tree

My wife, Pam, holding our son Chris (just 6 months old) with David standing at her side

Going back further in time, here is a snapshot taken in 1965 when Dick (me) was still in college living at home. Our family's holiday tradition was making a tumbleweed snowman. Mom, dad and I would trek out to the desert (a long drive in those days...) to find three different sizes of tumbleweeds.   We would put them in the car and head back to Eagle Rock (where we lived).   Dad would use a Kirby vacuum with the paint sprayer attachment to paint the tumbleweeds white.   Here is a picture of our finished snowman standing proud in front of our Eagle Rock home.

There is a funny story about these tumbleweeds!   One year after returning home from the desert, dad set up the tumbleweeds in the front yard and loaded the Kirby paint sprayer attachment with white paint (all paint was oil-based enamel in those days - latex had not been invented).   He turned on the vacuum and pointed the sprayer at the snowman.   Nothing came out of the sprayer, but dad could see the paint level going down in the bottle!   Yikes - he suddenly realized that he had hooked the hose up to the wrong side of the vacuum!   He was sucking the white enamel paint into the fan and bag of the Kirby (they were - and still are - expensive vacuums)!   What a mess he had to clean up!

LARGE-SCALE ANIMATION MADE THIS DISPLAY UNIQUE

What makes our analog holiday display so special and unique is our extensive use of animation of large attractions.

Just like the train above, our train's wheels and connecting arms move. It even smokes and has its own sound system that plays the sounds of a steam whistle and the classic chug-chug of the locomotive.   The original train is on display at a neighbor's home on Catalina Street (1 block west of our street - Florence - and 1 block south of our home - on the other side of Verdugo Avenue).   We enjoy driving by and seeing our former train in operation!!
The display features lots of animation! The train signals operate; the hammer's arms spin in opposite directions - meeting at the top and bottom of their travel; the merry-go-round turns while the horses move up and down; the Ferris wheel rotates; the swings fly through the air; the plane's propeller spins and its wings rock as Snoopy comes in for a landing- and the list goes on.
When we announced to neighbors and family that we are bringing back the original display in 2009, they unanimously agreed that they really missed the analog display and are so pleased that it is returning!

PICTURES, PICTURES AND MORE PICTURES

Check out the photo gallery for additional pictures of our holiday displays. We created some MPEG movies for you to enjoy of our animated attractions!

MUSIC "MIDI" FILES FOR DOWNLOADING

On the Music page, we have included links to about three dozen great Christmas midi songs for your enjoyment. To hear them, you will need Windows Media or a compatible midi player.

Also, you can save these midi files to your hard disk for playing later. Just right-click on the song you want to download on the MUSIC page, and then left-click "save target as" - and select your target folder where you want to save the file on your hard drive.   If you have a CD-RW drive, you can create an audio CD to play them in your audio system.

HOW TO FIND THE DISPLAY

Following is a link to a map to assist you in finding our display (of course, drive here only when it is up and operational). We are located at 513 North Florence Street, Burbank, California. We are between the 134 and I-5 freeways in the heart of Magnolia Park. Just look for the glow in the sky!
With this major Christmas display and Keith LaPrath's Winter Snowland up the street, parking on our block has always been a challenge. We tend to get more visitors on weekends, so viewing the display during the week is advisable. If you are unable to find a place to park on Florence, there usually is parking available on Clark Street or Verdugo Avenue. Both streets are a short walk from the Christmas displays.   There are other beautiful displays this year on the block as well.
As Christmas Eve approaches, our block's sidewalks are usually packed with people walking to get a closer look at both displays. A number of visitors have compared our block to the crowds of Universal's City Walk (which is just about 3 miles from our home)!
This is important! If it is raining, or rain is in the forecast for that evening, the display will be turned off This means, no lights and no animation!!!! For your convenience, I have added a link to the weather forecast for Burbank at the end of this page. NOTE: You can view the webcam in the evening to see if the display is on.

FAQs (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)

Every year, we always received a lot of questions from visitors about the holiday display. Several years ago, we added a scrolling message board. It used to be on top of the train station. Now, it is on the roof just about our large picture window featuring the revolving Christmas tree. For our on-line visitors, we have added a page on this site that lists the frequently asked questions with their answers. You can click the FAQ page link to read them. Note: When you have finished reading the FAQ's, you can either use the back button on your browser to return to this place on our home page, or click on the links at the top of the FAQ page to return here - or to visit other pages on this site.

Just for the Kids!

Hey boys and girls! Santa now has E-mail at the North Pole, and has asked us to help children who visit our page by providing a spot on our website for them to send him their wish-list! So, here is your chance to tell Santa what you are hoping he will bring you for Christmas!

Warm up those fingers (or ask for help from your mommy, daddy, brother, sister or a friend) and send Santa an E-mail telling him what you would like him to put in this toy sack just for you!! Just click on the picture of Santa reading his E-mail! Write to him soon!

OK, it is now time for you to pour your favorite drink, grab a snack and sit back to enjoy the videos, pictures and the great music.

SPONSORS FOR OUR DISPLAY

Putting on this annual show is a huge undertaking. Hundreds of hours are spent in the design of the attractions, procuring components, assembling, testing, and monitoring its operation during the holidays. The costs incurred in building such a display are significant. We are able to continue enhancing and sharing this display because of the generosity of sponsors who contribute towards our costs, as well as visitors who experience the joy of seeing the display in person, and wish to help us with a small donation to keep it going.   Our power bill (as you might imagine) takes a HUGE jump at this time of year because of the 90+amps this display requires.

In recognition of their generosity, I am proud to list sponsors of each year's display and encourage visitors to this website to consider these companies when seeking a source for services or products that they offer.

OUR VALUED SPONSORS

We'd like to acknowledge FULLER MANUFACTURING, INC that contributes material in helping us create our display, and encourage you to consider this company as a source for custom electronic or audio products.

Fuller Manufacturing, Inc
315 South Flower Street, Suite #102
Burbank, CA 91502
(818) 238-9911

Fuller Mfg designs and manufactures custom products for the entertainment and other industries. They generously contributed cable for our digital trunk lines and other components needed for our display.

We would like to acknowledge the generous contribution by AMERICAN LOGOMOTIONS, INC:

(http://www.yourneonlogo.com/) for donating a beautiful animated neon flag for our display!

Please visit their website for their other beautiful animated neon products!

Bodine gear motors are used to power our Ferris wheel, the double-hammer and the flying swings attractions. These motors are unbeatable for quality and durability. They are available in many different configurations to fit just about any application you need.

You can order these great AC gear motors through the Minarik Corporation, a leader in motion control and Bodine's distributor. One of their employees (Rick) helped me with the wiring configuration for the reversible function of the Ferris wheel.

Circulating Air, Inc

We wish to thank Lonnie and the company for whom he works, Circulating Air, Inc, for their generous contribution of time and materials for our new 2009 North Pole Express train's boiler! Their craftsmanship is simply outstanding! I recommend you consider Circulating Air for your needs involving:

Mechanical Contracting

Mechanical Engineering

Air Conditioning

Heating

Piping

Sheet Metal

Development & General Contractors

Electrical Contracting

We welcome sponsors who would like to contribute their support in helping us share this display year after year with the local community and others around the world who visit our website. In exchange, we will provide you with acknowledgement on this very popular and frequently visited web site for a year!

Finally, as in years past, we gratefully acknowledge the invaluable help we receive from our dear friend and neighbor, Keith LaPrath. Keith has been a key person without whose help we would not be doing as an elaborate of a display.

Keith was a big help in 2007 with the building of the support frame for our new Roller Coaster, our upgrading of our NOEL sign, as well as in the overall setup of the tent and other lights.

Notwithstanding our friendly rivalry (we do compete for bragging rights each year as to who has the best display in Burbank), we provide each other with support, ideas and physical labor in presenting our major holiday projects.   In 2009, Keith was a great source of inspiration and help in our bringing back our former analog display.

Thanks again, Keith, for your help this year, as in years past.   Your display for 2009 was the best one yet!

Be sure to visit Keith's holiday website at:

www.wintersnowland.com

GIVE US YOUR COMMENTS!!!

Finally, we would love to hear from you and what you thought of our website. We are always looking for ways to make it better, so any suggestions would be most appreciated. Just click on the wreath below to drop us a line. You can also leave your comments in the guest book (the link is near the top of this home page).

Dick Norton
webmaster@nortonswinterwonderland.com

BEAUTIFUL GREETING CARDS

I would like to mention a website you will want to visit - operated by my aunt "Lex" in Santa Cruz, CA. She is a very talented artist, and has created some of the most beautiful and unique greeting cards I have ever seen. In addition to some great Christmas cards, she has themes for other special occasions. Click on the link below to visit her site:

http://www.prestostore.com/cgi-bin/storefront.pl?ref=Alexi637
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our home to yours!

11/01/2009	11/02/2009	11/04/2009
11/08/2009	11/08/2009	11/14/2009
11/16/2009	11/16/2009	11/16/2009
11/16/2009	11/19/2009	11/19/2009
11/22/2009	11/23/2009	11/23/2009
11/26/2009	11/26/2009	12/05/2009 (Opening Night)

11/02/2008	11/03/2008	11/09/2008
11/10/2008	11/14/2008	11/16/2008
11/21/2008	11/28/2008	11/29/2008
11/30/2008	12/06/2008